1981 Texas Rangers season

Last updated

1981  Texas Rangers
League American League
Division West
Ballpark Arlington Stadium
City Arlington, Texas
Owners Eddie Chiles
General managers Eddie Robinson
Managers Don Zimmer
Television KXAS-TV
(Eric Nadel, Mel Proctor)
Vue-Pay
(Mark Holtz, Norm Hitzges)
Radio WBAP
(Eric Nadel, Bill Merrill, Mel Proctor)
←  1980 Seasons 1982  →
The Rangers playing against the Oakland Athletics during a 1981 away game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Oakland Coliseum diamond 1981.jpg
The Rangers playing against the Oakland Athletics during a 1981 away game at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum.

The 1981 Texas Rangers season was the 21st of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 10th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 10th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished second in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 48 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 6445.587—35‍–‍2129‍–‍24
Texas Rangers 5748.543532‍–‍2425‍–‍24
Chicago White Sox 5452.5098½25‍–‍2429‍–‍28
Kansas City Royals 5053.4851119‍–‍2831‍–‍25
California Angels 5159.46413½26‍–‍2825‍–‍31
Seattle Mariners 4465.4042020‍–‍3724‍–‍28
Minnesota Twins 4168.3762324‍–‍3617‍–‍32
AL West
First Half Standings		WLPct.GB
Oakland Athletics 3723.617—
Texas Rangers 3322.6001+1⁄2
Chicago White Sox 3122.5852+1⁄2
California Angels 3129.5176
Kansas City Royals 2030.40012
Seattle Mariners 2136.36814+1⁄2
Minnesota Twins 1739.30418
AL West
Second Half Standings		WLPct.GB
Kansas City Royals 3023.566—
Oakland Athletics 2722.5511
Texas Rangers 2426.4804+1⁄2
Minnesota Twins 2429.4536
Seattle Mariners 2329.4426+1⁄2
Chicago White Sox 2330.4347
California Angels 2030.4008+1⁄2

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League record

Sources:
TeamBALBOSCALCWSCLEDETKCMILMINNYYOAKSEATEXTOR
Baltimore —2–26–63–64–26–75–32–46–07–67–54–22–15–2
Boston 2–2—2–45–47–66–13–36–72–53–37–59–33–64–0
California 6–64–2—6–77–53–30–64–33–32–22–86–42–46–6
Chicago 6–34–57–6—2–53–32–04–12–45–77–63–32–47–5
Cleveland 2–46–75–75–2—1–54–43–62–17–53–28–42–24–2
Detroit 7–61–63–33–35–1—3–25–89–33–71–25–19–36–4
Kansas City 3–53–36–00–24–42–3—4–59–42–103–36–73–45–3
Milwaukee 4–27–63–41–46–38–55–4—9–33–34–22–24–56–4
Minnesota 0–65–23–34–21–23–94–93–9—3–32–83–6–15–85–1
New York 6–73–32–27–55–77–310–23–33–3—4–32–35–42–3
Oakland 5–75–78–26–72–32–13–32–48–23–4—6–14–210–2
Seattle 2–43–94–63–34–81–57–62–26–3–13–21–6—5–83–3
Texas 1–26–34–24–22–23–94–35–48–54–52–48–5—6–2
Toronto 2–50–46–65–72–44–63–54–61–53–22–103–32–6—

Notable transactions

Roster

1981 Texas Rangers roster
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Jim Sundberg 10233994.277328
1B Pat Putnam 9529779.266835
2B Bump Wills 102410103.251241
SS Mario Mendoza 8822953.231022
3B Buddy Bell 97360106.2941064
LF Billy Sample 6623065.283325
CF Mickey Rivers 99399114.286326
RF Johnny Grubb 6719946.231326
DH Al Oliver 102421130.309455

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Leon Roberts 7223365.279431
Bill Stein 5311538.330222
Mark Wagner 508522.259114
Tom Poquette 306410.15607
John Ellis 23588.13817
Bobby Jones 10349.26537
Wayne Tolleson 14244.16701
Bob Johnson 6185.27824
Rick Lisi 9165.31301
Dan Duran 13164.25000
Larry Cox 5133.23101
Nelson Norman 7133.23102
Don Werner 282.25000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Danny Darwin 22146.0993.6498
Doc Medich 20143.11063.0865
Rick Honeycutt 20127.21163.3140
Fergie Jenkins 19106.0584.5063
Jon Matlack 17104.1474.1443

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Charlie Hough 2182.0412.9669
John Butcher 527.2121.6319
Len Whitehouse 23.10116.202

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Steve Comer 368262.5622
John Henry Johnson 243122.668
Jim Kern 231262.7020
Bob Babcock 161102.2018
Dave Scmiidt 140113.1313
Mark Mercer 70124.708
Bob Lacey 10009.000

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Wichita Aeros American Association Rich Donnelly
AA Tulsa Drillers Texas League Tom Burgess
A Asheville Tourists South Atlantic League Tom Robson
Rookie GCL Rangers Gulf Coast League Andy Hancock

Notes

  1. 1 2 Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Bob Jones page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Ron Darling page at Baseball Reference

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References

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